Ultimate MLA Referencing style Guide for your Term Paper

Referencing is vital when it comes to academic writing, especially if the inspiration is drawn from someone else’s work. It can be the most time-consuming and challenging task for any student. Though there are many referencing styles, the best referencing style for a term paper is the MLA citation style. Read the blog to know more about MLA Citation Generator.

1. Citing an unpublished term paper:

•    According to the experts, if your term paper is an unpublished dissertation, write the last name of the author, a comma, then the first name and the middle name of the author. But, if there is more than one author, then use an ampersand before the last author’s name. For example, “Robert, D. C., Shelley, K. C. & Paul, M. K.”

•    Next, mention the year in which the dissertation was written. Since it is an unpublished dissertation, there will be no year of publication. Your citation will be similar to “Robert, D. C. (2019).”

•    Next, it’s time to include the full title of your dissertation. Although dissertation titles could be lengthy, it is a must to include the full title. Capitalize the first alphabet of the first word and write the whole title in italics. Once you finish writing the title, include the phrase “Unpublished doctoral dissertation” in the parentheses. For example, “Robert, D. C. (2019). Building the foundation for evaluation of instruction in preliminary education (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).”

•    Next, write the name of the institution and its location. You do not need to mention the location if the institution has only one location. But, if the institution has more than one location, then you have to add a comma after the name of the institution and then write the name of the location. For example, “University of Sydney, Australia.” A complete citation of an unpublished dissertation will look like: “Robert, D. C. (2019). Building the foundation for evaluation of instruction in preliminary education (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Sydney, Australia.”

2. Citing a published dissertation:

•    While citing a published dissertation, you have to write the last name of the author, the middle name and the initial name of the author separated by a comma. For example, “Robert, D. C.”

•    Most of the dissertations have one author. In case there is more than one author, write their names as per the order in the title page of your dissertation. Do not forget to separate their names with commas. For example, “Robert, D. C., Shelley, K. C., Paul, M. K.”

•    Next, add the year of publication in the parentheses. Make sure that you mention the time after the closing parenthesis. For example, “Robert, D. C. (2019)”

•    Next, write the title of the dissertation in italics and capitalize only the first alphabet of the first word. Proceed by writing ‘Doctoral dissertation’ in the parentheses. For example, “Robert, D. C. (2019). Building the foundation for evaluation of instruction in preliminary education (Doctoral dissertation).”

MLA REFERENCING

•    Once you complete the above steps, include the Accession number in the parentheses. But, make sure that you do not put a date after mentioning the accession number. For example, “Robert, D. C. (2019). Building the foundation for evaluation of instruction in preliminary education (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from MLA International Bibliography Database. (Accession No. 3417639367)”

Different reference style guidelines have been developed for use in different academic disciples. Therefore, follow the MLA Referencing guidelines mentioned above if writing a dissertation is your term paper.